Senator Dodd's Financial Overhaul Bill to be introduced Monday
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Sun, 03/14/2010 - 6:07am (124 comments)
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Furst.
This will work until someone at G/S doesn't want it to work.
Would someone tell me what Dodd is trying to prove. He's gone and gone as a looser who I wouldn't trust with my closed out checking account.
I traveled quite a bit in New Zealand in the early 1980's when they were the ultimate cradle to grave socialist economy, with big tariffs on all imported goods, and the populace had learned to live with less and make things last, austerity.
For what it's worth, they went from one extreme to the other, later in the 1980's when they relaxed tariffs. The first thing you noticed was there were no more 1950's cars on the roads, as 3 year old used Japanese vehicles were imported to take their place...
Kamikaze Dodd with more government to not see the problems coming!
From the article: "As in a House version of regulatory overhaul adopted in December, the bill would, in some circumstances, restrict states from writing their own, stronger consumer protection rules."
I think this is why Dodd bothers with the legislation. It's a Trojan horse designed to further hobble the state's independent regulations of banksters.
It's surprising what a bargain legislators really are in this day and age.
the whole point of swap contracts when compared with futures contracts is that they are not standardized. Providing an exemption for non standardized swaps is essentially exempting all swap transactions since it doesn't take much to convert a standardized into a non standardized.
Additionally the risk is not in standardized contracts. By defintion if they are "standardized" the number of people who understand them is large- that includes auditors, risk managers etc. Its the non standardized that we have to worry about.
from Jesse's sidebar I don't think the word regulation means what they say it means. long article
Market Skeptics: *****What You Need To Know About Wall Street*****
Maybe instead of introducing a bill he could just go ahead and leave early. Is it not the law, you must be out of Congress before you can legally be paid to work on K Street, or has a route around that been found.
Dodd, where's my TARP?
good morning cr ers, happy daylight savings time for those that have it and to the ones that dont,you are so lucky.
Do we really want to give consumer/financial protections authority to the fed and treas. secy? Just sounds like another layer of
to me.
We need a :bloated squid: icon
It's a good time for me to share a story.
My bank is regulated by the OCC. In Oct. '09, they made changes to the rules governing electronic transfers to/from my checking account; they dramatically decreased the limits per day and per month. They gave no advance warning, even though they were required to provide at least 21 days advance notice under this law:
http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-3100.html#fdic6500part205rege
I reviewed the OCC web site and I tried to work things out first with the bank. They refused to reinstate the old rules, so I filed a complaint against them with the OCC on Nov. 6, 2009. According to the law, the bank was required to respond within 30 business days. They didn't, instead responding on Jan. 5, 2010. It took until Mar. 3, 2010 for someone at OCC to decide what to do next. They decided they needed more information from the bank. The bank has another 30 business days to respond. I have called the OCC help line at least 10 times. They are very little help at all. For such a clear cut violation of the law, I am amazed at how long the bank is allowed to stall.
Even with financial regulation reform, I am skeptical that anything will change when it comes to enforcement.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Yeah, that progressive registration fee on aging cars in Japan is a perfect match for a she'll be right banger in a lo tariff godzone!
I rented a nine year old Toyota and drove it all over the north island with fine results a few years ago. Got a mate's rate on it. Rental company was run by a Japanese expat eking out a living.
7.2 in Chile, 7.0 in Indonesia, 6.6 in Nippon...
Is California next?
We're all girding our loins, just in case
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
You need to review your geography. Alaska is next.
If the bigwigs didn't see this meltdown coming how would a "systemic risk council" do anything but validate the operating standards that allowed the meltdown to happen in the first place.
I wonder if Dodd's resume is attached to the bill - so lobbyists can more easily access it. You know, just in case they need somebody after Dodd's term is up at year end. Never too early to get the resume out - not in this economy - that's for sure.
a 7.0 in LA or SF would be a
as a good many insurance companies are on the verge of insolvency...
Think Lisbon 1755.
dryfly wrote:
dryfly at his driest . . .
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Ehh. We've had our share of sevens. Ruins some peoples' day, and some peoples' lives. But not like Chile. The codes are better, the construction's better. Mind you, an 8 and above -- or a 9 and above -- would lay us out bigtime.
A "seven" would probably do us good, speaking harshly. Let people know exactly what shape their response system is in.
The powers that be hid the damage from Kristina pretty well, and when I saw whole neighborhoods abandonded, I was blown away...
California won't be that easy to hide~
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Exactly. And many people here are not the sort to put up with being hidden.
I didn't cause any damage JD. That was my long lost sister Katrina
Not to be confused with Samantha.
Foxes and chickens, wolves and sheep, and an arthritic, blind, senile old dog asleep on the porch -- SEC.
Can we guess how this turns out?
The list of participants looks like a revamp of the intel community consolidation playbook that got us the DHS.
I'm reading the points and the comments. Lot's of trees being counted. Let's look at the forest.
Sen. Dodd is proposing outsourcing consumer protection to a private consortium of large banks.
Ultimate oversight of insurance products are being taken from States and given to a committee.
At least this means we start this process by auditing the Fed right? Right? [crickets]
Anak wrote:
Hey just asking the questions.
I mean SOMEBODY would have to head up that systemic risk council, right? They say the best way to get a job in tough times is create one tailored EXACTLY to what you want to do? More than a few opportunities for Dodd to cash in on that laundry list [besides the 'new council'].
Bet we still hear from Dodd after he transitions into 'private life'. Ya think?
My bad.
p.s.
I never thought of you as a blowhard
Bob Dobbs wrote:
Further OT, sorry.
Never thought I'd find it, but here is the Bukowski poem that came to mind, courtesy of a comment in the fabius blog (which is a good one), asking if Americans are cowards, as it happens.
Are Americans easily panicked cowards? I think not, but many experts disagree. « Fabius Maximus
Americans don’t know what tragedy is—
a little 6.5 earthquake can set them to chattering
like monkeys—
a piece of chinaware broken,
the Union Rescue Mission falls down—
6 a.m.
they sit in their cars
they’re all driving around—
where are they going?
a little excitement has broken into their
canned lives
stranger stands next to stranger
chattering gibberish fear
anxious fear
anxious laughter …
my baby, my flowerpots, my ceiling
my bank account
this is just a tickler
a feather
and they can’t bear it …
suppose they bombed the city
as other cities have been bombed
not with an a-bomb
but with ordinary blockbusters
day after day,
every day
as has happened
in other cities of the world?
if the rest of the world could see you today
their laughter would bring the sun to its knees
and even the flowers would leap from the ground
like bulldogs
and chase you away to where you belong
wherever that is,
and who cares where it is
as long as it’s somewhere away from
here.
-- Charles Bukowski
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
Anti-trust at DoJ makes the SEC look like a young greyhound.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Ummmm... no, not gonna touch that one. Mistype of the day and leave it at that.
dryfly wrote:
Wouldn't want to lose touch!
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
2001: New York paralysed by 9/11 attack
2005: New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina
2009: California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida overrun by foreclosures.
I think we're good until 2013.
Comrade Kristina wrote:
So do they call you Hurricane Kristina at the bar?
I predict lots of indignant rhetoric and Oscar calibre kabuki theatre.
I still want to know... WHERE ARE THE FU&KING INDICTMENTS?!?!?
Dodd is setting his own K Company up as we sleep. A company that will advise the financial industry "cause he wrote the law." Would like to say he is dumb as dirt, not so, knows exactly what he is doing.
They evenhave an Anti-trust division at DoJ anymore, dryfly? Not so's you'd notice.
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
The ink pad and rubber stamp are in the upper left drawer. Help yourself.
Haha Dryfly, not that I'm aware of but I'm sure they have some more colorful terms for me when I'm not within earshot.
I'll have a Cat-5 Hurricane, better make it a double.
MaryAnn wrote:
Prolly. The way the 2010 midterms are looking - he'll have a big pool of talent to recruit from too - explains why his fellow caucus members still make nice to him even though he's technically a lame duck. Can you call a duck lame IF its just resting while waiting to fly off to an even better watering hole?
I've been trying not to post, but I'm sorry; this isn't Dodd's bill and he's getting a bad rap here.
Dodd's bill was introduced in December in the Senate I believe.
This bill is a 95% compromise bill between Democrats and Republicans.
If you have time I suggest watching both Dodd's news conference and Corker's news conference on C-SPAN).
I actually "faux-live-blogged" Corker's news conference early either Friday or Saturday morning.
They both agree this bill is about 95% compromise; Dodd feels he has to get this bill through the Senate before reconciliation hits the floor.
I have no idea of the NYT author actually bothered to listen to Corker and Dodd.
*Mr. Dodd said Thursday that Democrats would proceed on their own after months of stop-and-start negotiations with Republicans over a bipartisan compromise yielded little progress. *
This is false. Dodd paired up Republican and Democrat members from the Banking Committee to work on various parts of the legislation. I can't recall off the top of my head but I think one of the things they didn't quite agree upon was OTC derivatives, particuarly the end-user exceptions (this is troubling to me as its a loophole... Broosley Borne doesn't want any exceptions... we should follow her advice).
I believe what Dodd is introducing is 95% of the compromise bill... just the last 5-10% could hinder the legislation.
I thought the response to 9-11 was splendid, both on the part of civilians and operational units, locally and nationally.
The new regs just provide a false sense of security. Like someone advertising that they do background checks on rental units at the beach. You pay $50, they spend $25 to do a "check" and you feel super safe....
The bad guys know you feel super safe, so they only stay there (they have dozens of IDs so they just pick a clean one to apply with)
YLSP wrote:
This bill is a 95% compromise between Goldman Sachs and JPM.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
I was far away, and still am, so this is a venturesome opinion.
Locally, sure.
Nationally? Nuts.
I would prefer one new rule:
You borow money and can't pay it back, you go to jail until your friends/family pay off the debt.
Keeps both the lender and the borrower on there toes!
Rob Dawg wrote:
“Not a single one of the 23 countries that derive most of their export earnings from oil and gas is a democracy today,” Diamond noted in an essay earlier this year. Especially in Arab countries, the fabulous riches that come from under the ground tend to create overbearing governments with apathetic citizens. “In these systems, the state is large, centralised, and repressive,” Diamond wrote.
Societies are usually “intensely policed” because “there is plenty of money to lavish on a huge and active state-security apparatus,” and bureaucracies are “profoundly corrupt.” They tend to see the money that pours into state coffers as everybody’s and nobody’s, and therefore more or less free for the taking. The public pays no taxes in the richer states, and in the view of the entrenched potentates no taxation means no need for representation."
longwaver wrote:
YLSP - Who do you think is responsible for the bill?
Serious question, no snarks intended.
I was in Europe when 9/11 happened and didn't get back to LA until later in the month...
The response I saw upon my return, was about half the cars on the 405 had plastic American flags stuck in their window jambs, rallying around old glory.
Regarding the CFPA:
- The Republicans didn't want the CFPA to have enforcement power. If this is Dodd's bill the CFPA will be able to enforce (or other regulators could veto).
- Either way there would be a systemic risk exception to the CFPA.
- Both parties agree on clipping the wings of the Fed.
This effing article is tripe... so he would have me believe that both Corker and Dodd were lying when they talked about the legislation? With the press?
Again, the article fails to say that Dodd feels pressure due to reconciliation coming down in the Senate (which gives you a hint about the political atmosphere).
So, a group of large banks will assume oversight of standardized swaps and derivatives many of which are executed by or against those very same banks. Thank god for Chinese drywall... errr... firewalls.
NervousRex,
I believe this bill is 90-95% of a compromise bill between Democrat and Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee. It's probably a little "left" of the SBC proposal (this is what Corker explained), I think Corker is hoping Republicans can shift it some to the right.
The key to this legislation will be attracting the moderate Republicans (Brown, Snowe, Collins, etc). I'm not sure if the GOP caucus is going to break rank on anything... but this will be a bellweather if they are truely "the party of no".
This bill is better than what we have now.
YLSP wrote:
It makes the Fed systemically too powerful to control. I do not find that comforting.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
It was what was, and wasn't done, before 9/11 where the screw ups occurred.
Again, not mentioned is the fact that there is some pressure to release the bill prior to reconciliation. I think Dodd is trying to get this bill through before the Senate breaks.
Rob,
It clips the Fed in some ways.
On the other hand, the Fed would lose oversight over more than 4,900 bank holding companies with roughly $3 trillion in assets, and about 870 state-chartered banks that are members of the Fed system and have a total of $1.7 trillion in assets.
The Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, and leaders of the Fed’s 12 district banks have pressed Congress to let the Fed retain its say over smaller banks, and the fact that senators appear to be unwilling to go along is a reflection of the central bank’s diminished prestige in the wake of the financial crisis.
What do you guys want, no bill or something that's a little better? You guys are nuts.
Quite Frankly, I saw Barney talking on MSNBC advocating an open debate and discussion on financial reform like we got with Health care, but I don't think we'll get that.
CR will never give us a 9-11 post, thank goodness.....
So I'll just stifle, but plug the John Robb and Fabius Maximus blogs (when one is right caught up on CR's threads, of course.)
Dodd writing this bill is not too different from GS writing this bill. Especially Dodd being oh so close to the revolving door that leads to the promised lobby land!
I have no idea why the press wants to say "this is Dodd's bill"... both him and Corker made it clear, the discussion ended prematurely. I don't know if Dodd or Corker used the example, but they said... "We were on the 5-yard line, and the lights went off"... and I believe Dodd was adamant in saying this bill mostly will contain the compromises.
Can't say now, but back in the day, bank employee's would have to sit in on bank oversite laws on Sat presented by companies that charged mega bucks. Would bet companies like this is being rigged up to go by those in know as we sleep with connections to those unknown.
Bet we still hear from Dodd after he transitions into 'pirate life'.
NervousRex wrote:
My thoughts as well. Having The Fed oversee it? Yeah, right..........something about the chicken coop in the foxes den?
Can I get some doom up in here? I need a good kick in the nuts.
YouTube - Ow my Balls! Idiocracy
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
Old senators never die, they fade from view and get very rich.
Dodd remains a whore to the banks. Period.
The vast, vast majority of his campaign contributions come from the TBTF banks.
He literally has sold his soul.
Anything that man proposes must be seen for what it is, a manipulation by the major banks against the public's best interest.
How CR can find anything positive in this bill is beyond me. The red herring distractions tossed in that CR lists are just that, distractions. Wins over what??? The people who count are the families who own the banks and their largest shareholders. The rest are fodder.
Oppose anything that Dodd proposes. Oppose it with intensity. He has been a major flag of the financial corruptability of man.
Do you guys really think Dodd wrote the whole bill himself? He paired off the Senate Banking Committee members and had them and their staffs work together on different pieces of the bill; I assume with him and Corker or him and Shelby providing oversight.
Who do you think provided worse guidance for the bill, Dodd or Corker?
Obviously the House bill is going to be better than the Senate's, and obviously the Senate is under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith... Blankfein... right?
And what's going to happen when the FCIC commission report comes out? I think there will be better motivation for rolling further changes into financial regulation (politically speaking).... I think we're seeing step 1; next year we'll see step 2 as people are angry over the FCIC report... I can't imagine they won't make any recommendations... I was expecting financial reform to be stopped until the FCIC report came out... and I'm glad it is moving forward.
I know I sound like an apologist, I'm juts trying to offer real insight into what is going on.
Sen. Dodd's campaign contributions
Chris Dodd: Campaign Finance/Money - Top Donors - Senator 2010 | OpenSecrets
Citigroup, AIG, etc. But no GS.
Hmmmmmm.
YLSP wrote:
Not until next January when the GOP controls the House and maybe the Senate too. Then we'll get discussion & see who is the party of 'no'. Same dance - different tune.
If Dems want a bill they should jam one through - they have majorities & filibusters can be broken IF they have the guts to do it. You aren't a majority unless you can force the opposition to wear the
while reading phone books on the floor of the senate. Dems know what they have to do - they don't have the balls to do it. GOP knows that better than anyone so next major milestone is Jan 2011. Until then - chill.
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
LOL! Ayyye Mate - that is better.
. . . and if you want to keep track of earthquakes . . .
PAGER - Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response
The MMI scale is explained here: Mercalli intensity scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The idea that we have to pass something, anything, even something farcical like putting the consumer protection agency inside the Fed, makes no sense.
Democrats are masters of losing strategic advantages. Instead of just passing it they toodled around with bipartisan committees for weeks on end, and now they're behind the eight-ball in time and pressure. And the Repubs aren't even going to vote on their own work product. Jeez, I'm shocked.
edit: as usual dryfly said it better
read what he said :-
"Dark Lord of the Sith"....hahhahahehehehohoho
....you know full well that Den. Dodd had a "bit of help" writing this legislation by Citigroup, AIG, Royal Bank of Scotland, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon, GE, JP Morgan Chase,.........
The Lorax wrote:
Please name one of the senior systemic-finance leadership in the Senate or House who spoke publicly about the impending collapse of RE and the stock markets, the Depression-But_for-Give-Away-Unemployment-Money.
There was none. There will be none. Inherent in this game is fear of doing the wrong thing. Erring on the side of silence is never punished. The failed leaders all just sent for "training".
The system needs regulation, but only by an appointed team of Devil's Advocates who will get their career heads chopped off if they do not call out the risks and failures due to following the then current path.
NervousRex wrote:
Exactly. Wake me up next January and I'll start paying serious attention to upcoming legislation.
Cut your ties to the almighty dollar, it makes the irony go down a little easier...
YLSP wrote:
What makes anyone think anybody in the Senate or one their staff did anything more than took dictation?
Nervous, you said it pretty good too.
For an outsider looking in, this blogplace is golden.
And for national security reasons we must restrict all cross border access, except for mine.
Black Star Ranch wrote:
Of course. But that's where the compromise comes from... they are also 'advising' the GOPers on the committees.
You guys nuts when it comes to political issues... maybe you think I'm the one taking crazy bills.
The GOP is going to offer better financial reform?!
Dodd gets gets banksters contributions because he's the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. If George Washington was chair of the SBC today he would get boku bank contributions.
If we don't like it we need some type of Constitutional Amendment.
There's more to like from this bill than the status quo. Politically speaking it all has to be done in increments.
I hope that there are more reforms added from the FCIC findings.
I bet this bill passes the Senate, because I think Snowe, Collins, Brown and other moderates will feel pressure to not appear like "the party of no"... and the reforms are all very reasonable.... who knows by the Easter break... but I'm concerned that the press has pushed the idea it is Dodd's bill... which sets it up for GOP trying to kill it.
Talkin to a realtor yesterday and she said, "The market's turning around".
I replied, "Sure. What else would you expect a turd to do just after flushing, before it goes down the drain".
How long can a completely broken government limp along before crashing?
Got chores - catch you all later.
In an ideal world, Senators are listening to smart folks like Simon Johnson and Liz Warren and Brooksely Borne. I have no idea why their ideas are muted, or buried... (okay I know). But we don't live in such a world. If we want to we need to work hard at seeing those ideas pushed to the forefront.
If the banks own the Senators, how much easier must it be for them to own the media/newspapers?
Later.
Have to install ground effects above my new
ttfn
Does this bill do anything about Federal preemption of states? Will it make it easier for states to bring regulatory or even criminal action when the Federal Govt doesn't?
That would be a huge step forward. It would make regulatory capture much tougher, and would make regulation less cyclic depending on who is in power in DC.
YLSP wrote:
No but different reform. Who cares if in the end nothing is accomplished?
Dems know what they have to do - they aren't doing it - they could have a real bill, real reform, on the floor tomorrow and start busting the filibuster. Make Corker & Bunning et. al. wear the
. Isn't happening - why is that you think? Weather?
So instead we'll have this jockeying until the elections - then an election - more gridlock and no reform AFTER the GOP gains power?
Gee I wonder who wrote that script says the
?
Dems know what they have to do to maintain leadership & give voters a reason to return them - they aren't doing it. This compromise isn't. Its part of the stall. Again...
NervousRex wrote:
Well, that answers one of my questions. Too bad.
dryfly wrote:
Gee I wonder who wrote that script says the Vampire Squid from Hell?
Dems know what they have to do to maintain leadership & give voters a reason to return them - they aren't doing it. This compromise isn't. Its part of the stall. Again... Im shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
DF, well said.
some investor guy wrote:
the bill would, in some circumstances, restrict states from writing their own, stronger consumer protection rules."
Well, that answers one of my questions. Too bad.
.
Birchers nailed this sh!t years ago.... just saying.
The beauty of the Bircher movement, was they only needed to change one letter to stay current.
bearly wrote:
At real estate school, they teach something akin to cartoon physics. Things can't fall until you look down.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
lol, on a coffee break a mall during a high school work stint in the 70's I was buttonholed in the mall one day by a very persistent hari bircher.
Made so much sense to me I ran back to my cash register!
Nothing is going to happen that protects the people of this country as long as the
can feed.
We are, as a nation, a field full of cows, lambs, and sheep. The watcher and the herd dogs were taken into town, slipped a few drinks, and led out to the woods. They are not coming back.
OT question for the commentariat - any input appreciated with respect to home warranty companies - seller will pay first $500 of the first year premium, any of you have any experiences or insights you care to share? TIA
Hey Sen Dodd where's the point about disbanding the Fed ?
"We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it". -- Congressman Louis T. McFadden
I'd like to see a conversation bewteen a Bircher and a Jehovah Witness, that would be interesting, no?
Yesterday I agitated dr munch with my death care diatribe. I truly mean him no harm and hope he doesn't take it personally. I am very pleased any time I elicit strong responses because then I know my words have dug in and are doing battle and kicking ass in the synapses. They may not win every head but no matter. I made them stick and I like that.
I have been throwing verbal volleys since the nuns forced me to write the dictionary. Fucking crazy that way. Ha ha ha aaah. I lit into a doctor having a soup and salad with her Apple at the french bakery. In fact, any doctor, health care worker, patient or transit passenger who sets off my rant gets my rant.
I figure I'm doing the world a favor. Nobody can justify the current system and my words sing and infect.
I even like it if I get the wrong ideas to stick. In general I am fascinated with the stickiness of words. Rhyme and alliteration can turbo and spray a phrase. Phrases can live centuries beyond the first anonymous utterance. Words have the intrinsic power of the concepts they convey.
Even though in here I am only characters on a screen, I hope for no hard feelings with dr munch. He is a good valuable member of the conversation. I hope he continues to disagree with me and I welcome anyone else.
This is a science.
Continue on.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I used to aspire to 'listen like Dylan'.
Bob, that is.
Then I ventured out, and changed my mind.
energyecon wrote:
Take the $500 and blow off the insurance.
energyecon,Get someone who really knows what he is doing to inspect the place.A "warranty" from a good company has some value depending on the exclusions and deductible but this is insurance and insurance companies have earned their reputation.Do some serious DD on the company if you want insurance...but a good inspector is money better spent.
The assumption is that both parties want to stay in power and simply aren't arms for other interests. The Democrats will really provide "real reform"? The Republicans will provide, "real reform"?
No, only the people can provide real reform. I propose we start crafting Constitutional amendments which further these goals and work towards getting the states to ratify them (even if Congress hasn't). As long as the people don't care that the parties don't care to provide real reform, then we lose.
My suggestion to Barack Obama would be for him to immediately renounce his Democratic party affiliation and start acting as an Independent. I bet if he truly acted in such a manner he would royally tick off both parties, but the effect would be he acts in a way that exposes both parties, and gains the love of the people... who vote him in a 3rd, 4th, and 5th term (after all, what type of future does he have anyway?) As we already saw with the birther issue, I don't think anyone would be able to enforce the Amendment that restricts presidents to 2 terms anyway... because no one would have standing to challenge it...
'pirate life'.
x1
Slumdog wrote:
That's my point, I don't see any bigwig "risk counsel" being anything other than a rubber stamp for the behaviors of Wall st. So next time they need bailing out they can point to the fact that the "risk counsel" didn't find anything wrong in their leveraging.
I think Obama should dye his hair blond and charge $10 more.
"For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.
Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is** projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more."
**
Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam's IOUs - Yahoo! News
Already? Damn!
Tom Stone wrote:
Done, had a PE crawl the house from stem to stern. The insurance clause is a bit of boilerplate AFAICT, just interested in capturing whatever value might be available in the warranty.
Tom Stone wrote:
How about a conversaton between an evang and a zoroastrian?
Not going to be any reforms that mean anything until cities are burning and people are listening to credible revolutionairies.
Of course being a revolutionary leader means you are bound for a date with a bullet. The
will retreat to its cave for a couple of generations and the Republic will live on. Or the 
will be pigheaded and not let go. Then we, the people, get to create our own version of European history.
Nothing changes except the establishment will squeeze tighter and tighter until it loses it's grip. The looters, Congress included, will continue looting until it is time to hide. Congress cannot reverse global economic collapse.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
hell, I'd pay good money for that! Let's book Freddie Mercury.
Couldn't they just make it part of the healthcare bill like:
Student Loan Overhaul To Be Combined With Healthcare Legislation
They already have the banks and auto makers, why not just take everything else in one fell swoop?
The US Congress should change it's a name to US Charade because all we get from these clowns are empty or deceptive acts or pretenses
YLSP wrote:
Obama is an actor, Bush was a cheerleader. They both represent the same side. As defined by actions alone, they are the same guy. It has always been this way. Hope dies hard. Hope is fear antidote.
Hope is another Drug. You better believe it. Hope can do as much damage as fear.
Hope prevents action.
Tom Stone wrote:
Best kinda funny, sad funny.
Elliott Smith said it best : "what a f*$king joke."
There was a NYTimes article claiming part of Corker's price was no regulation of payday lenders. I bet Corker was boiling mad at the story, but it seems to have dropped off the radar.
Re 9/11: I don't know the details, but it seemed to me that there was quite a bit of time between the WTC planes and the one crashing into the pentagon. I also got the impression that NORAD was less than completely frank in its responses to the 9/11 commission.